I am new to lap steel, or any guitar for that matter. I have purchased a 1 owner national New Yorker, late 30's. The guitar has been in a closet for a number of years and the widow is off to assisted living.
My initial thought is that it is probably time to replace the strings. The current ones seem to work as do all the settings and the 3 pickups. But the bass strings appear a bit rusty looking. All in all the guitar is in near mint condition
Any suggestions for strings or other items that I need to update? I plan to replace the caps when I replace the strings. By now the caps are probably leaky.
Measuring the current strings with a caliber I get .012 .014 .018 .032 .048 .058. This seems to correspond to A Major Low Bass tuning. Perhaps it should be restrung in C6 which I understand to be .015 .018 .022 .024 .030 .038
I saw that one advertised for sale. It sure was pristine. Congrats.
Currently own, 6 Groner-tone lap steels, 1953 Alamo Lap steel, (a gift from the late Stu Schulman) Recording King Phil Leadbetter Dobro, Roland Cube, Roland Mobile Cube, Fender Champion 40
Tony,
I would re-string it to C6th. Lots of EZ tabs out there. I guess it depends on what kind of music you want to play.
Also, didn't get very far until I got a teacher of some kind.
Lessons with Troy has excellent beginning C6th stuff.
If you tune to C6, you can also retune to several other tunings like A6, B11, E7, etc. The gauges are not optimal, but more versatile than the low bass tunings.
I like those old Nationals. My first steel was the Waikiki model, which is similar but really stripped down. They aren't Rick frypans, but they sound sweet.
Ron and David
Thanks I was thinking C6 would be more useful. I definelly will be getting a teacher.
My playing thoughts are more in line with The Eagles or Pink Floyd rather than Swing or Hawaiian
James
I read your post. Well done
Bill
It is a mueseum pice. I am not a big person at 165 and 5' 8" but the previous owner must have been very small. The pics that it came with are small. I will need to order some me ones. I choose this one because I liked the Art Deco style and if I am a miserable failure I should be able to get my money back on the resale.
Red Jedson tunings
1977; Open G chord, D G D G B E
– Shine On You Crazy Diamond 6-9
1987 – 2006; Open Em chord, E B E G B E
– One of These Days and High Hopes
Blonde Jedson and Fender Deluxe tuning
1974 – 2006; Open G chord, D G D G B E
My New Yorker is in open E. I play a lot of blues based music and jam-band kind of stuff on it. I can't remember the brand or gauges of strings off the top of my head. Coming from underarm guitar, E made sense to me.
Hi Tony,
You scored a museum quality '38 New Yorker. Mine isn't quite as well preserved. Sweet guitar, and in my mind ideal for Hawaiian, jazz, and old school blues. This guitar was really an advanced, professional quality instrument in 1938. It had multiple pickups way before anyone else thought about doing that. To open it up, you'd need an expert luthier to carefully cut the Bakelite fretboard at the 12th fret. Don't, unless you're really sure the electronics are not working properly. The tone control isn't a pot, it's a multi-pole selector switch that has contacts similar to an old automobile distributor.
Check out this short video on YouTube for the pickup switch orientations. Yours is probably set up just like this. At the end you can listen to the sound of each switch position played by Basil.
Jerry
Cutting Bakelite is not something is wish to get into. I thought it was just removing the 6 screws. My thought was to upgrade to silver and oil caps or pcb and oil caps if they didn't fit.
The date you provided matches what I could dertermine from the serial number
Side comment. This Thursday the 29th single showing only is Hired Gun. It is is a documentary with many rock legends about the Hired Gun musicians that play most of the music people love but don't know who played it.
Nice job on that James.
I was thinking of building the same style.
Funny thing was I spent Sunday cruising youtube and came across your version of "There goes my everything" and it was real nice.
Thanks....
Inlaid Star Guitar 2006 by Mark Giles. SD-10 4+5 in E9th; http://luthiersupply.com/instrument-gallery.html
2017 Mullen SD-10, G2 5&5 Polished Aluminum covering. Custom Build for me. Great Steel.
Clinesmith Joaquin Murphy style Aluminum 8 String Lap Steel Short A6th.
Magnatone Jeweltone Series Lap Steel, Circa 1950? 6 String with F#minor7th Tuning.
1956 Dewey Kendrick D-8 4&3, Restoration Project.
1973 Sho~Bud Green SD-10 4&5 PSG, Restoration Project.
Congratulations on this fine example of the 3-pickup New Yorker. That's my 1937 one Basil plays in the clip above (after he had kindly fixed it for me). I also play it at the start of this video:
Hi, just jumped on this thread as I have just purchased a 1938 National New Yorker where the fretboard has moved in transit. I'm wondering the best way to put it back in the correct place!
Thanks!
